The Samsung Fascinate Versus the HTC Droid Incredible

In this article we pit the Samsung Fascinate vs. the HTC Incredible and tell you what we think about the build quality, performance and feature-set of both phones.

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The Samsung Fascinate comes from the line of Galaxy S phones, with variants of each widely available on many, if not all carriers.The Fascinate has entered an arena that is populated with a large selection of Android cell phones that seem capable of meeting the needs of a wide range of consumers.In this article we compare the Samsung Fascinate to the HTC Incredible.

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Controls and Features

There are some features that are common to both phones including: a 1GHz processor, Wi-Fi (b, g and n), Bluetooth, GPS, AGPS, and Wi-Fi hotspot tethering (up to 5 simultaneous devices). Both phones also have LED flash, auto focus, face and smile detection as well as geo-tagging, and can shoot HD quality videos.There are major differences, though among which is the fact that the Fascinate has a 5MP camera while the Droid Incredible comes with an 8MP camera and dual LED flash.

You do get a fair amount of internal storage with each phone, but the Fascinate has 1.55GB of internal storage and ships with a 16GB microSD card, and just like the Incredible, it can take an expansion card as large as 32GB. On the other hand the Droid Incredible comes with 8GB of internal storage and can also take a card as large 32GB, if you need more storage.

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Interface and Web Browsing

While both phones have multi-touch displays, the Fascinate has the largest display of the two: 4” to be exact. The display is a super AMOLED, while the Incredible makes do with a 3.7” display showing 480x800 pixels. It goes without saying that the Fascinate’s larger display does make it a better device, as far as web browsing and graphics rendering is concerned.

The Fascinate’s larger and more vibrant 4” Super AMOLED display therefore make it a better choice for viewing videos and photos. The Incredible is no slouch either; it too does a good job on the navigation and interface fronts and even bests the Fascinate by including an optical joystick at the bottom of the device. Even so, the superior display and smooth rendering of the Fascinate gives it an edge over the Incredible.

Just below the displays of both phones are 4 keys to facilitate faster navigation namely: the main menu, home, back, and search keys.If you like the new swype input keyboard, the Fascinate does have support for that too, and even includes a speech to text feature.

If you do decide to get a Samsung Fascinate the first thing you will want to do is download Google Maps and set Google as the default.For some reason this phone was configured to use the less capable Bing as the default search tool. This severely hampers the speech to text and general advance features that Google search tools allow, but this indiscretion can be remedied with some tweaking.

In terms of interfaces, the Fascinate uses Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 interface running on Android 2.1, while the Droid Incredible uses the HTC Sense UI running Android 2.2 (Froyo). Both allow the user to configure seven home screens that can be customized with bookmarks, contacts, app shortcuts and widgets. However, deciding which of the two interfaces is best will depend on individual taste.

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Build Quality

The Droid Incredible and Samsung Fascinate are both skinned in plastic. There is a glossy plastic backing in the case of the Fascinate, and a rubberized plastic that contours to fit the internal components in the case of the Droid Incredible. This gives the Incredible some aggressive lines on the backside, which gives the phone a distinctive look.

The Fascinate does feel as if it has better construction though, due to the fact that the glossy plastic skin and metal rim are tightly molded to fit the phone’s internal components. You either love or hate the contoured backing of the Incredible, but we think most consumers will fancy the looks of the Samsung Fascinate, though the glossy exterior can be a magnet for smudges.

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Call Quality and Performance

Comparing call quality on these devices is truly comparing the devices themselves, owing to the fact that both phones operate on the Verizon network. But we have to say that the call quality on the Fascinate is a bit tinny and not as robust as that of the Incredible. Both phones have good performance but the Fascinate does seem to have an edge over the Incredible, especially as it relates to playing videos. The performance differences aren’t overwhelming skewed to the Fascinate, but you can tell if you are nit picking.

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Conclusion

The HTC Droid Incredible has been a hit ever since its release, so you would expect the newer Verizon Samsung Fascinate to upstage it, and in many areas it does. While the Droid Incredible does hold its own in this HTC Droid Incredible vs Samsung Fascinate comparison, the super and larger screen, over all better build quality, and better performance of the Fascinate gives it the edge over the older Droid Incredible. That said, the Incredible does perform very well and may in fact be preferred by some who don’t like the larger form factor of the Fascinate.